Waterproof seam and method of making same



June 14, 1938. J. P. BODLE WATERPROOF SEAM AND METHOD 'OF MAKING SAMEFiled April e, 1936 Patented June 1 4, I938 A i i l UNITED STATES-PATENTOFFICE- WATERPROOF SEAM AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME John P. Bodle,Mishawaka, Ind., assignor to Mishawaka Rubber and Woolen ManufacturingCompany, Mishawaka, Ind., a corporation of Indiana.

Application April 6. 1936, Serial No. 72,968 4 Claims. (01. 154-42) Myinvention relates to waterproof seams for pass therethrough. One or morerows of stitches garments or other articles and has reference more maybe employed, two rows being preferred as particularly to a seam, and themethod of making indicated at M and I5, and the edge portions l2 same,wherein a thin strip of rubber or similar and I3 may fully overlap oneanother, as shown, sealing material is interposed and stitched beso thatboth rows of stitches l4 and I5 pass 5 tween the parts composing theseam, through both edge portions l2 and i3 or these The principalobjects of my invention are to edge portions may merely be doubled backsufprovide an improved waterproof seam; to efficiently to extend intothe seam a suitable disfectively and permanently seal the stitchopentance so that each is engaged by only one row of ings; to insureuniformity of sealing throughstitches, in which case the portions l2 andI3 do 10 out the seam; to minimize the amount of sealing not necessarilyoverlap one another to any extent material required; to permit thesealing to be acas the portion I2 may merely extend inwardly complishedwithout perceptible thickening or apbeyond the stitches l4 and theportion l3 may preciable stiffening of the seam; and to provide a merelyextend inwardly beyond the stitches l5 simple expedient whereby thewaterproofing of as will be readily understood by those familiar 15 theseam may be conveniently accomplished,'- with the makingof seams.

these and other objects being accomplished as The strip ofheat-softenable sealing material l6 pointed out hereinafter and as shownin the 9.0- which is incorporated in the seam and extends companyingdrawing in which: throughout the length thereof, is shown exag- Fig. 1is a transverse sectional and perspective gerated in thickness for thepurpose of illustra- 20 view of a seam made in accordance with myintion. This strip I6 is folded along longitudinal vention; lines as atI! and Hi to provide inner, outer and Fig. 2 is a side view of mechanismfor producing intermediate portions I9, 20 and 2| respectively,

the waterproof seam; whichare arranged as shown so that in the illus-Fig. 3 is a perspective view looking at the retrated seam the portion 19is between the doubled 25 ceiving end of the seam folder; back fabricportion l2 and the outer fabric ii of Fig. .4 is an enlarged sectionalview taken on the seam and the portion 20 is between the the line 4--4of Fig. 2 at the delivery end of the doubled back fabric portion l3 andthe outer seam folder; fabric Ill of the seam and the portion 2| is be-I Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the tween the doubled backfabric portions l2 and I3. 30

guide along which the strip of waterproofing ma- Thus there are threelayers of sealing material terial is fed to the seam folder; l5 betweenthe inner and outer faces of the seam Fig. 6 is a view of the deliveryend of the guide and the stitches l4 and I5 pass through all three ofFig. 5; and layers.

5 Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the seam as For making the seamwith the waterproofing it is formed, stitched and pressed. strip l6incorporated therein, a sewing machine For waterproofing the seam,balata, gutta having two needles 22 for making the two rows percha orother heat-softenable sealing material of stitches l4 and i5simultaneously is provided ab e for the purpose is, employed and thissealwith a combined strip and fabric folder indicated 40 ing material isprepared in the form of a thin as a Whole at 23, which is secured by amOunting 40 strip, as for example by calendering, and interstrap 24 tothe bed plate 25 of the sewing machine posedbetween the seam formingparts so that ju ahead of the needles 22 and arranged to the stitchespass therethrough, the seam being p essively o d' Overlap the edgePortions preferably subjected to heatand pressure after 0f the fabricpieces l0 and H in a manner to stitching so as to flatten the seam andat the produce the seam while at the same time the strip 45 same timesoftenand pack the heat-softenable I5 s pr r ly o ed d n roducedl osealing material in the stitch openings and t e s e e Sewing machinebeing provided With around the thread. the usual presser foot 26 andwork feed 21 which One form of seam, waterproofed in accordancecooperate'to pull the work through the folder and with this invention,is shown in Fig. 1 wherein the propel it past the needles 22 whichsecure the 50 reference numerals l0 and II indicate the two seam partstogether with the two lines of stitches. pieces of material, such asfabric, which are joined l4 and I5. Y v together by the seam with theirrespective edge This folder 23 is formed with a hollow S- portions l2and I3 doubled back so that the edges shaped shell 28 at the centerwhich extends from are secured withinthe seam by the stitches which endto end of the folder and provides a passage- 55 2 T way 29, of S-shapedcross section, through which the sealing strip I6 is drawn in theformation of the seam, said passageway 29 being of an open mer of which,namely the plate extension 3 I, projects laterally and downwardly andprovides a edge portions of the fabrics I 0 and II reduced in thechannels 36 and 33 respectively to flattened 6 form and are foldedaround the guide and support for the marginal portion of the fabric IIIas theedge portion thereof is drawn through the seam former and thelatter of which, namely the plate extension 32,- is curled outwardly anddownwardly and across under the S- shaped shell 28 and terminates in aflat portion at the opposite side which supports and guides the marginalportion of the fabric II as the edge portion thereof is drawn throughthe seam former, the plate 32 together with the S-shaped shell 28forming a C-shaped channel 33 which embraces the lower lobe of theS-shaped shell 28 and serves, as the marginal portion of the fabric IIis fed through theformer 23, to curl the edge portion of the fabric I Iup over the lower lobe shaped portion of the S ShflDfid shell so thatthe edge portion of the fabric is introduced between the portion of thesealing strip I6 that is in the center part of the sealing strip shell28 and that portion thereof in the top arm 30 of the shell.

The lower arm 34 of the S-shaped shell 28 has a single plate extension35 which is curled outwardly and upwardly and across over the S- shapedshell 28 and plate extension 3I, and to gether with the plate 3| andS-shaped shell 28 forms an inverted C-shaped channel36 which embracesthe upper lobe of the S-shaped shell and serves, as the marginalportionof the fabric I I) is fed through the former 23, to curl the edgeportion of the fabric I0 down under the upper lobe shaped portion of theS-shaped shell so that the edge portion of the fabric is introducedbetween the portion of the sealing strip that is in the center part ofthe sealing strip shell 28 and that portion thereof in the bottom arm 34of the shell.

Both of the channels 33 and 36 extend from the entering end of theformer 23 remote from the needles 22 to the delivery end thereof nearthe needles and these channels which are of open 0 shape at the enteringend. as shown in Fig. 3, are gradually contracted to a flattened C shapeat the delivery end as shown in Fig. 4 so that at the same time that thesealing strip I6 is being reduced to a flattened s form by passagethereof through the passageway 29 of the former, the are being foldedsealing strip I6 so that the fabric edges emerge from the delivery endof the former 23 folded in substantially the seam form shown in Fig. 1and with the sealing strip I6 incorporated therein substantially asshown in said figure so that upon. compression in the stitchingoperation and stitching'thereof the parts are secured together in theflat seam form.

Any suitable means may be provided for directing the sealing strip I6 tothe entering end of the passageway 29 of the for-mer, as for exam-- plethrougha guide 31 which may be mounte in any convenient manner, 'as-forexample by at.

tachment to the sewing machine frame, the sealing material beingsupplied to the guide from any suitable source in the form of a thinstrip which is pulled downwardly along the guide and into the folder 23by the feed which advances the folded seam through the stitching zone,the guide being provided with a bend 38 at the lower end to re-directthe strip toward the entering end of the sealing strip passageway 29 ofthe folder 23. This guide may extend to the entering end of thepassageway 29, if desired, and is formed between the bend 38 and theformer 23 so as to preshape the strip so that it readily enters thepassageway 29 in the open 8 form of the entering end of said passageway.In the illustrated structure the guide 31 comprises a pair of rails 39and 40 which are joined together at intervals by connecting portions Mand by the curved plate 38 in suitable spaced relation so as toaccommodate the heat-softenable strip I6 edgewise therebetween, and thecurved plate 38 has an extension or continuation 42 which projectstoward the entering end of the passageway 29 and gradually changes fromthe flat form at the bottom of the curve 38 to a sort of S-shape at theouter end as indicated at 43 with reverse folds 44 and 45 which serve,as the strip I6 is drawn along under the extension 42 and therefrom togradually convert the flat strip I6 into the required s shape forentering the passageway 29. The rails 39 and 48 of the guide arecontinued as flanges beyond the .curved plate 38 along the edges of theextension 42 as indicated at 46 and 41, these portions 46 and 41 beingat different inclinations and convergent to corre spond respectively tothe edges of the extension 42, one of which said edges together with theside flange 46 is arranged to direct the corresponding edge of the stripI6 to the upper end of the S-shaped entrance to the passageway 29 andthe other edge of the extension 42 and its side flange 41 being arrangedto direct the other edge of the sealing strip I6 to the lower end ofsaid S-shaped entrance. Thus with this guide, the sealing strip I6 isreadily arranged for feeding into the passageway 29 of the folder asthere are no openings through which the strip must be threaded as it ismerely necessary to place the strip between the side rails 39 and 40 andthe convergent flanged parts 46 and 41 thereof and under the curvedplate 38, after which the drawing of the sealing strip I6 along theextension 42 and between the convergent flanged parts 46 and "starts theshaping of the sealing strip I6 in the s form which it assumes as itenters the passageway 29 of the folder.

In making the seam with this device, the sealing strip I6 after beingengaged with the guide 31 is inserted through the passageway 29 of thefolder 23 and the edges of the fabric parts I8 and II that are to bejoined together by the seam are started respectively through thec-shaped channels 36 and 33 so that they emerge at the delivery end ofthe former 23 in the seam form with the sealing strip incorporatedtherein and these folded parts are then started between the presser foot26 and work feed 21 which, as the seam.

' with a roller before the garment cools, or if desired, a pressingdevice such as indicated at 49 may be provided which is heatedelectrically or otherwise to the required temperature and arranged toheat and press the seam as it leaves the stitching zone.

The sealing strip/ [6 while shown herein for purposes of illustration ascomparatively thick, is in actual practice quite thin, sealing stripsbetween three one-thousandths and ten one-thousandths of an inch inthickness having been found to be sufficient, and the width of sealingstrip ordinarily employed in making this seam is about three-quarters ofan inch. By preparing the sealing material in strip form andincorporating it into the seam in the manner above described as the seamis formed, the uniformity of thickness of sealing material throughoutthe length of the seam is assured and extremely thin stock may beemployed, which not only minimizes the cost, but avoids any perceptiblethickening or appreciable stiffening of the seam.

Moreover, the employment of sealing material in the strip form permitsaccurate application thereof both as to area and thickness and thesealing materialis confined to inside surfaces so there is no visibleevidence thereof. Moreover,

by applying the sealing material in the manner disclosed herein nopreliminary treatment of the edges of the material for the making of theseam is required as the edges of the partsthat are to be securedtogether by the seam are merely folded and stitched together, and alongcurved and irregular lines if desired, in the same manner and with thesame facility as they would be without any sealing material, the sealingstrip being automatically and accurately introduced into the seam in thesame operations that are necessary to make the seam-1 While I have shownand described my invention in a preferred form, I am aware andcontemplate that forms of seamsother than the particular form disclosedherein may be waterproofed or sealed in accordance with this. inventionand that various other changes and modifications .may be made withoutdeparting from the principles of my invention, the scope of which is tobe determined by the appended claims in which the term rubber-likematerial is intended to include not only balata and gutta percha butother sealing materials similar thereto which may be prepared in thinstrips and used in the manner above described to effectively waterproofa seam.

I claim asmy invention:

1. The method of making a water-proof seam, which comprisessimultaneously feeding pieces m of fabric and a heat-softenable water-proof sealing strip in substantial alignment in the same direction,progressively folding the moving pieces of fabric into a seam havingoverlapped por-.

tions, progressively shapingthe moving sealing strip and feeding saidshaped portion endwise in between the respective lapped seam portions ofthe pieces of fabric, stitching the seam through the pieces of fabricand the sealing strip,

and subjecting the stitched seam to heat and pressure sufiicient tosoften the sealing strip and force softened portions thereof into theneedle holes and'around the stitching to form a watertight seam.

. 2. The method of making a water-proof seam, comprising simultaneouslyfeeding pieces of fabric and a heat-softenable water-proof sealing stripin substantial alignment in the same direction, progressivelyinterfolding the moving pieces of fabric into interlocking relation,progressively shaping the moving sealing strip and feeding the shapedportions thereof endwise in between the interlocked portions of the saidpieces of fabric, stitching through the interlocked portions of thepieces of fabric and the shaped portions'of the sealing strip embracedthereby to form a seam, and subjecting the stitched seam to heat andpressure sumcient to soften the sealing strip and force softenedportions thereof into the needle holes and around the stitching to forma water-tight seam. t

- 3. The method of making a water-proof seam, which comprisessimultaneouslyfeeding pieces of fabric and a heat-softenable water-proofsealing strip in substantial alignment and in the same direction,progressively foldingedge portions of the moving pieces of fabric into aseam having over-- lapped portions, progressively shapingthe sealingstrip into a substantially S-shaped 'cross section and feeding saidS-shaped portion of the ing strip and force softened portions thereofinto the needle holes and around the stitching to form a water-tightfold.

4. A water-proof fabric seam, comprising fabric sections having mutuallyoverlapped edge portions interfolded into interlocked relation, and awater-proof heat softened sealing strip folded into a substantially 8shaped cross section lying within the seam, respective folded portionsof the JOHN P. ome.

strip lying between respective overlapped folded

